296 SAVAGE SUDAN 



view behind its fringing- forest, than there occurred two 

 charming* episodes in bird-life. The river here is walled-in 

 between precipitous grey banks, all riddled and perforated 

 by the nesting tunnels of bee-eaters the gorgeous 

 crimson bee-eater (Merops nubicus) already described 

 thousands of which exquisites were now clinging upright 

 on the surface of their mural stronghold. The sun was 

 setting and, in the lurid light, the whole cliff-face appeared 

 aflame with the masses of these encarmined creatures 

 here in groups, there in dense crimson patches their 

 radiance intensified, aye, glorified by the horizontal rays 

 of a setting sun! Even our stolid Arab crew gazed in 

 wonderment ; but such effects no words may convey. 



The second scene followed fast. The sun had already 

 set : bird-life had vanished, but flickering bats and 

 nightjars marked the nightfall ; then suddenly, at this 

 unwonted hour, occurred a new irruption of bee-eaters. 

 By hundreds they hawked low on the surface of the river. 

 The incident lasted two minutes and ended as abruptly 

 as it began. Normally bee-eaters (with all other 

 diurnals) close down for the day before sunset ; to-night 

 a "hatch" of some aquatic insect had induced a brief 

 spell of "overtime." 1 



Next morning, March gth (1919), afforded an observa- 

 tion in the processes of migration. When approaching 

 Malek (latitude 6 North), we descried ahead an assem- 

 blage of storks, composed of equal numbers of the 

 openbill and of Abdim's stork, massed together on 

 a sandy foreshore. The openbills (being residents) sat 

 quiescent while we passed by ; but their companions 

 already infected with a north-bound instinct took wing 

 while yet afar and, soaring heavenwards in great spirals, 

 soon attained a vertical altitude (finally beyond sight), 

 whence, presumably, they could espy landmarks of their 



1 A bright moonlight night, or even starlight, will nevertheless tempt 

 bee-eaters out on nocturnal adventure, and one hears their characteristic 

 notes as they circle high up in the viewless vault above. 



